In an interview with France24, Wickremesinghe said, "We are a neutral country, but we also emphasise the fact that we cannot allow Sri Lanka to be used as a base for any threats against India."
Indian Navy is in the process of modernisation with the induction of new platforms fitted with potent weapons and sensors, Rear Admiral Rajender Singh, chief of Staff Southern Naval Command, said Monday.
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A moderate intensity earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale shook the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Friday evening but there were no reports of casualty or damage.
'The Indian government is better prepared this time and has reached out to all contenders and not putting all eggs in one basket.'
Foreign minister Ali Sabry told the cabinet that the Chinese vessel had only asked for a refuelling visit.
The fresh incident comes amid growing global concerns over attacks on various commercial vessels in the Red Sea by the Houthi militants.
The Indian Navy rescued an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel with 19 Pakistani crew members and a Sri Lankan trawler in two swift operations after armed pirates hijacked the boats in the Arabian Sea amid deteriorating security situation arising out of Iran-backed Houthi rebels targeting various cargo ships in the region.
Investigators are now reportedly looking at a possibility of the missing Malaysian Airline passenger jet being flown to Taliban-controlled bases. The Flight MH370 went off civil radar just after 40 minutes after take off from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, carrying 239 people.
Addressing a press conference virtually, India Meteorological Department Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said September was likely to witness normal rainfall in the range of 91-109 per cent of the long period average of 167.9 mm.
The National Security Strategy document should flag all major issues concerning security strategy and provide guidelines to concerned departments to work out suitable action plans. Since the global and regional geopolitical canvas is dynamic, the NSS document should be deliberated at length before formulation and should be reviewed periodically, recommends Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
The search for the crashed Malaysian jet on Friday dramatically shifted to a new area 1,100 km further northeast in the Indian Ocean after authorities received "the most credible lead" of radar data suggesting the plane flew faster and ran out of fuel more quickly than estimated.
China is also ready to promote high-quality Belt and Road Initiative cooperation, and push for new progress in the future-oriented, all-round friendly and cooperative partnership between the two countries, she added.
The commissioning of the indigenously-built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant will contribute in ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, Vice Chief of Indian Navy Vice Admiral S N Ghormade said on Thursday.
Colombo seems to be veering to the middle path between China and the US on global matters, but in regional matters of strategic security, it is increasingly identifying with India, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The aircraft carrier, built at a cost of around Rs 23,000 crore, set sail on Wednesday for the crucial sea trials ahead of its planned induction into the Indian Navy by August next year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his demise, saying Kumar contributed towards strengthening the country's maritime security.
"We work with other countries to develop their capabilities and support their efforts to make free sovereign choices. More broadly, we aim to advance peace and stability in the region," he asserted.
'At Keeladi, we have not come across any evidence for organised religion.'
'Amid the frequent cries that the defence budget falls short of what is needed, we tend to ignore the reality that any enhancement in the allocation is just not possible, and the armed forces have no option but to operate within this constraint.' 'So, unless deadwood -- especially manpower -- is identified and eliminated, we simply cannot have a modern military of the type that India needs,' says Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
Singh said India has intensified patrolling of the seas after the recent attacks on merchant navy ships.
China's embassy in Colombo has sought an urgent meeting with senior Sri Lankan authorities after Colombo sought a deferment of the planned docking of a high-tech Chinese research vessel at the strategic Hambantota port over which India raised concerns, sources said.
The southwest monsoon season concluded on Saturday with India receiving 'below-average' cumulative rainfall -- 820 mm compared to the long-period average of 868.6 mm -- in an El Nino year.
'The Chinese navy is large and expanding both in numbers and capability by the day.' 'India too must take measures to safeguard its own interests, now and in the future.'
Sri Lanka's Hambantota Port authorities said the high-tech Chinese research vessel that was to dock there on Thursday won't reach the port as scheduled, according to a media report, days after India expressed security concerns over its presence in the island nation.
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The IMD said that rainfall over India in August and September would be around 106 percent of the long-period average of 422.8 mm.
The search for flight MH370 is yet to target a "hotspot" most likely to be the crash site in the Indian Ocean as priority was given to investigate "pings" that has led to a dead end, a United Kingdom satellite firm claimed on Tuesday.
A massive earthquake of 8.7 magnitude hit waters off Indonesia triggering tsunami fears across the Indian Ocean nations, including India, reviving memories of the 2004 devastation that had claimed tens of thousands of lives in the region.
A massive quake measuring 8.7 on the Richter Scale rattled northern Sumatra in Indonesia on Wednesday, at around 2:38 pm, because of which tremors were experienced across the eastern coast of India, principally in Kolkata, Chennai, and also in Bengaluru.
'It has the potential to sow seeds of furthering discord when the direction of the discourse is aimed at propagating the perceived supremacy of 'cultural nationalism' from a distant past over the prevailing dominance of 'Constitutional nationalism',' argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
'When there is a change in the wind speed or the stress exerted on the surface, it will change the ocean currents.'
China is scouring its territory in Tibet and Xinjiang for the Malaysian jetliner missing for 11 days, a senior diplomat said as international efforts to locate the plane failed to achieve any breakthrough.
The avoidable stresses and strains in ties helped in one way. It showed for the entire region how a matured India handled diplomatic relations, especially with a smaller and suspicious neighbour, with practised dignity and patience, unruffled by provocations in word, deed and action, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Riled by Sri Lanka's request to defer the planned docking of a high-tech Chinese research vessel at the strategic Hambantota Port, China on Monday took a dig at India, saying it was "senseless to pressure" Colombo by citing the issue of security concerns.
The El Nino impact on the Indian monsoon typically manifests by way of extended break in rainfall.
'With the recent challenging of the notion of the Indian Ocean Region being India's strategic backyard, China is gradually upping the ante in the maritime realm around India.'
Data spanning the years 1951 to 2014 show that temperature and pressure conditions at specific locations in the Arctic region during the pre-monsoon period correlate with the Indian summer monsoon rainfall, points out Charu Bahri.
Malaysian authorities are probing new information that the missing plane with 239 people on board dropped to an altitude of 5,000 feet or possibly lower to evade radar detection after it turned back midair.
A cyclonic circulation lies over north coastal Tamil Nadu, southeast of Bay of Bengal and a low pressure area is likely to form by November 9, the Meteorological department said on Sunday and has forecast widespread rainfall for at least the next three days in the state.
